Hot weather drives crowds to Salzburg’s cool attractions

Cool retreats are drawing large crowds in Salzburg during the hot summer, ORF reported on Saturday. Visitors are seeking relief by hiking at high altitudes, swimming in cold mountain lakes and visiting attractions such as the Eisriesenwelt in Werfen.

With outdoor temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius, visitors to the Eisriesenwelt, the world’s largest ice cave, need winter jackets and hats. Temperatures inside the mountain are just below zero.

Groups of about 30 people are divided by language, with tours available in English and German. Andreas Schmitzberger, the cave’s operations manager, said the heat outside was not harming the ice. “The ice is doing relatively well,” he said. “The very hot temperatures do not affect the ice as much as precipitation. Warm rain melts much more ice than hot temperatures.” He added that visitors were “almost storming” the attraction.

The salt mine in Hallein is less cold, but temperatures there are around 10 degrees Celsius. Manfred Mader, site manager at Salzwelten Hallein, said visitor numbers had also risen during hot weather in July and August. “We are normally more of a bad-weather destination,” he said. “But you can see a slight change in people’s attitude. When it is consistently above 30 degrees, people go in there and cool down.”